Transform Scotland, the Edinburgh-based association for promoting sustainable transport, has published its proposals to improve the inter-city rail connections in the constituent part of the United Kingdom. The recommendations are focused on the development of the rail infrastructure north of the Central Belt, the most populated area in Scotland. This will improve the competitiveness of rail services in the country.
Transform Scotland has unveiled its proposals on Thursday, 7 May, as a part of its response to the Scottish Government consultation on the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). In its argumentation, the association for sustainable transport stressed the lack of connectivity in the constituent country, especially north of the Central Belt (which includes, inter alia, Glasgow and Edinburgh). “In 1895, the fastest journey time between Edinburgh & Dundee took 59 minutes compared with about 64 minutes now – more than a century later,” the association stated.
electrification
Therefore, the organisation proposes to improve the rail infrastructure in order to facilitate and improve train journeys between Scotland’s cities. The first recommendation of Transform Scotland relates to electrification. “There is also a need to increase the extent of electrification on the Scottish network to allow a transition from diesel to electric traction with the resulting reduction in GHG emissions if sustainable power sources are used and in journey times. At the moment, only 25.3 per cent of the Scottish network is electrified,” the association explains. That’s why it calls upon the Scottish Government to electrify the northward railways from Edinburgh and Glasgow, via Perth, to Aberdeen and Inverness.